The UN’s top humanitarian organisations urged the Security Council on Wednesday to extend Syria's cross-border aid mechanism for 12 months instead of six, days before the current period expires.
The current Security Council resolution on cross-border assistance in Syria is due to lapse on July 10.
A joint statement signed by the heads of seven UN humanitarian and health organisations said that a 12-month extension would ensure humanitarian aid continues to reach people in “desperate need effectively and without delays”.
“This pipeline is more important than ever. Every month, it allows the United Nations and our partners to reach 2.7 million people with medicines, safe water, food, shelter supplies and protection services from across the border,” the statement said.
The Security Council initially authorised aid deliveries in 2014 into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey.
But Russia has insisted on the reduction of UN-permitted aid border crossings into Syria from four to one – Bab Al Hawa – and cut the time frame for the mechanism's renewal from a year to six months.
Following a devastating earthquake on February 6, the UN reached an agreement with Damascus to establish two additional border crossings from Turkey, Bab Al Salam and Al Rai.
Initially granted for a three-month period, the access was later extended in May for another three months.
“Russia's cynical politicisation of the cross-border mechanism has narrowed the temporal and geographic scope of the resolution to allow the use of only a single border crossing since 2020, undermining the delivery of life-saving aid at a time when the impact of the recent earthquakes on civilians has been catastrophic,” said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Both the Russian government and the Syrian regime have said UN aid should be channelled through Damascus to opposition-controlled areas, but the UN says such aid “cannot match the scale or scope of cross-border operations”.
“If the UN Security Council fails to authorise cross-border aid or the Syrian President withholds his consent, the UN and its humanitarian should consider alternatives to ensure that desperate Syrians get the life-saving assistance they're entitled to,” Louis Charbonneau, the UN director at Human Rights Watch, told The National.
The UK's ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward, who is presiding over the Security Council for the month of July, told reporters last week that the body “has a duty to do the right thing to open more border crossings for longer periods of time”.
“And to be frank, if it were up to us alone, this would mean at least three border crossings for at least 12 months,” she said.
“I think the important thing to remember here is, this should not be a political bargaining chip. This is simply about humanitarian aid access and aid access alone.”
The five pillars of Islam
Vaccine Progress in the Middle East
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
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- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Saturday April 27: Awards ceremony, 4pm and 8pm
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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